Games of Glory: Simple Online Twin-Stick Mayhem

Now available as a free open-beta, Games of Glory brings solid team-based battles to PlayStation 4 and Steam. It definitely doesn't reinvent the genre but you might be surprised by how tight its competitive online matches are so let's take a deeper look.

Capture zones, drain enemy power; got it!

Wait, what's Games of Glory?

In short, it's a team-based competitive online game that controls like an overhead twin-stick shooter. After customizing your character and heading to battle, you'll be surprised by how intuitive it is to control. You move with the left stick and aim with the right while tapping a shoulder button to attack. At any time, you can switch between your melee weapon and gun. Doing so in order to take advantage of the current situation is a must if you want to win. On top of these basics, you can unleash a variety of skills that may be enough to give you an edge on the battlefield. As you fight, you'll earn credits that you can redeem mid-game to upgrade your weapons. Growing like this makes each battle much more satisfying as you watch both teams become stronger throughout. Overall, it's a simple setup but it also provides a solid base for enjoyable gameplay.

Superstar Dominion

As of writing this, Games of Glory only features two arenas with their own respective modes: Superstar and Dominion. Superstar (which is played on Svandia) is basic as two opposing teams try their best to take down the current "superstar" of the opposing team. It's kind of like tag except being "it" is far more deadly. Dominion (on Arkashan) is where Games of Glory really shines. It combines classic modes such as capture the flag and tower defense into a lengthy and grueling formula. Each match can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over half an hour because beating your opponent requires a lot of steps. First, teams try to capture zones in order to drain each other's power. Once a team's power is depleted, the other team can enter their core and try to destroy it. However, it's still guarded by sentry towers that pack quite a punch so taking those out first is a must. Once you finally destroy the core, it feels awesome.

Are you sure you're up for this, old man?

Attack of the Clones

Games of Glory features a large cast of characters known as "clones". Right now, there are 15 available but there will be more released down the road. A lot of these chums look unique to say the least. The human characters have strange robotic bodies for the most part and there are many alien creatures, too. Each clone has its own set of distinct abilities such as being able to heal themselves, shoot poison at enemies, jump over walls, deploy shields, and setup traps. As you can see, there's a wide array of abilities that focus on various aspects of battle so experimenting with the characters to find the one that fits your play-style best is great fun.

PS4 and PC together in perfect harmony

I've played a lot of online games like this but I think this is the first one that allows PlayStation 4 and PC players to battle together. As a result, I had no difficulty being matched with other players because the user base is much larger than if you could only play with people who were using the same platform. Also, I didn't notice any lag or similar issues when playing with a mix of PS4 and Steam players although a couple of folks dropped out from time to time. In the end, I hope more developers choose to create inclusive online experiences like this because it definitely makes the community much more lively and diverse.

These Superstar battles sure can get crazy

Although it's been done before, Games of Glory offers a solid take on the twin-stick online experience. It's certainly short on content in its current state with only 2 modes and arenas but I'm looking forward to seeing how it shapes up over time. Have you played Games of Glory? What are your thoughts on it? Do you have a favourite character? Let's chat in the comments below.